Qatar finance minister arrested over misuse of public money and abuse of power

Qatar’s Attorney General Ali Bin Fetais Al-Marri ordered the arrest of the country’s Finance Minister Ali Sharif Al-Emadi on Thursday over allegations of misuse of public money and abuse of power.

State media organization Qatar News Agency (QNA) confirmed that the finance official had been detained and laid out that he was facing charges of embezzlement, abuse of power and crimes linked to the public sector.

“The Attorney General ordered the arrest of the Minister of Finance Ali Sharif Al-Emadi to investigate what was mentioned in the reports of crimes related to practicing public office,” the statement to QNA read.

While the attorney general’s office confirmed an investigation is underway, no information was released stating where Al-Emadi is being held or when he is expected to appear in court. 

Al-Emadi previously worked as the chief executive of the Qatar Central Bank before he was appointed to the role of Qatar’s minister of finance in June 2013 after Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani took over as Emir of Qatar.

While corruption has plagued some countries in the Middle East, Qatar has been ranked as one of the least corrupt nations in the region. In the 2020 corruption perceptions index, Transparency International gave Qatar a score of 63 out of 100, ranking it as the 30th least corrupt country out of an overall list of 180.

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